Growing up as the Oldest

Boy, do I remember this time of year when I was growing up as the first child of John and Marilyn Kading, owners of The Corner News Store on Franklin Avenue in Millbrook, New York!

I loved this time of year when I would get to see so many people coming into the store to pick up those necessary items on their lists!

It was also a time when I would get to work later in the evening and on Sunday afternoons with dad, too.

In other words, I would get my father all to myself, and I’d get to see him do what he loved to do!

So it was so much fun for me to work those weekday nights and those Sunday afternoons doing those kinds of things that I loved to do, while dad took the post at the cash register. (He’d usually let mom have those Sunday afternoons off!)

John Kading of Millbrook, New York with his daughter, Diane Kading

Screams of Joy

There was always so much to get done on my ‘To do’ list at this time of year, too, but I loved to check off the completed ones, to find another to add to it again.

But the one thing I can remember very clearly about this time of year growing up is that everyone seemed joyful and excited for the holidays!

Shirley Evert working at The Corner News Store in Millbrook, New York

I remember so many times when I was busy getting that To Do List done around the store when I’d hear my mom or Shirley Evert scream in joy!

Shirley Evert working at The Corner News Store in Millbrook, New York at Christmas time

Then I’d hear, ” It’s so good to see you!

How’s the family?”

And this would continue during this magical time of year when families would return to their hometown during the holidays! Not to say it didn’t happen at other times during the year because it did!

The ‘Google’ of Millbrook

It was always a magical time of year for sure when the family came back home to visit family during the holidays! It was a time when people cared about hearing the stories of people’s lives and they actually listened! (Before cell phones that took our attention away!)

The days of the past when The Corner News Store was the heartbeat of the Village of Millbrook.

Marilyn Kading at The Corner News Store in Millbrook, New York

It was the Google of Millbrook!

You could come in to ask a question and there was a good chance, you’d get the ‘I’m feeling lucky’ answer instantly!

Yes, unfortunately, those days of the past have gone. And since that day years ago, when this Google of Millbrook, The Corner News Store had closed its doors, so much has changed in the Village of Millbrook, too.

Special People Living in a Special Town-Millbrook

However, Millbrook, New York will always have that special place in any one’s heart because of the people that have shared this small little town within your life, too.

or from a business such as The Corner News Store, or even the welcome you always get at The Bank of Millbrook!

The important thing is to remember that there was a connection to them that will survive through the many years of your life.

Thank you to all those my family have had that ‘special’ connection with over our lives, too!

Bennett College in Millbrook, New York

The memory of certain people will survive that brutal test of time, many have called it, and yet when that person is mentioned in a conversation with somebody many years later, a story will be remembered about them and the laughs about that event or the sadness of it can be felt again and again, too.

This is what life’s about, isn’t it?

The memories we all have of our childhood growing up in Millbrook, New York is a treasure for all of us, and I want so much to cherish those Millbrook Memories on this website and the Facebook page with the same name too.

Remember this? The Tribute Gardens in Millbrook, New York

Remember to Play and Swing

The Tribute Garden in Millbrook, New York

When some kind of ‘problem’ appears to be written into the script of our lives, I want people to be able to come to this website and take a stroll down memory lane and be comforted by the images or the stories that will be told by me, my father, or my Aunt Helen, or one of the many funny stories from my Uncle Henry for the years to come.

I would want you to take a look at that swing at The Tribute Gardens or on the playground at one of the schools you had once attended, and to close your eyes to remember your childhood, swinging on that swing, and how that ‘problem’ will hopefully lessen in its intensity in your lives too.

In living our years together in our beloved Millbrook, we all share something pretty GRAND I would call it, wouldn’t you?

We share something Grand, indeed and we all have been blessed by having the support of the community in so many things my father had been involved with throughout his lifetime too.

After all it was all of you in the Community of Millbrook and the surrounding areas that had given The Corner News Store its life and supported my family throughout its years, so my “why” is to return that back to creating this website called Millbrook Memories to celebrate all the years we have shared together and to share our stories as well!

Connection with the World

Connection to All in Millbrook

We are living in a time when the connection is so needed in our lives and yet many have been unable to find something that calls to them in their hearts that they would want to reach out to connect.

Well, my hope and prayer for this site is to reach out to all those that have a need to share their Millbrook Memories and just like when someone would welcome you as you came into The Corner News Store, I want to welcome all of you as well in the same way that my parents had done for 52 years in The Corner News!

(And yes, I am my father’s daughter, after all!)

Please Share your Millbrook Memories of the Holidays

The holidays are coming so please share your Millbrook Memories of your past holiday’s in the comments, too.

It’s that magical Millbrook time of year when the Christmas trees sparkle their coloured lights as you drive up or down Franklin Avenue in Millbrook, New York!

We are surely blessed to have our eyes be greeted with such a beautiful site and our hearts filled over the many years this has been done in the Village.

Thanks to all the people that make this happen at this Magical time in the Village of Millbrook possible, too!

We are grateful for it giving us this Magical touch at Christmas time in our beloved Millbrook!

Blessings to the Millbrook Memories we all have together that unites us!